Transitions
by Sarah Elric
Summary: Songfic Oneshot Ichihime sequel to Changes SPOILERS for chapter 290 or so......Let's see how far we've come...I, believe, it all, is coming to an end oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend...Let's see how far we've come... Kurosakikun...Inoue...


_**Hey! Tis I, the great Sarah! Anyway, in a fit of brillance I came up with this! A songfic/oneshot sequel/prequel to my Changes/Differences(this one is still in the thought stage) fanfic! It is the greatest thing since sliced bread...well close enough anyway...Um...if anyone has any questions put them in your review...but uh...the last paragraph at the end...it should go at the top and the first paragraph is set immediately after Changes( with a few parts missing ie the apartment scene, but everyone knows it) and FYI that whole "sex scene" in Changes...yeah...it was another one of Ichigo's dreams...but...well...I'M THE AUTHORESS AND WHAT I SAY GOES!...um...Read and Review...I don't own Bleach yada yada yada...Please read and enjoy! Oh and there are SPOILERS for up to chapter...290 or something...can't remember...  
**_

**I'm waking up at the start of the end of the world,**

**but its feeling just like every other morning before,**

**now I wonder what my life is going to mean if it's gone,**

**the cars are moving like a half a mile an hour if that**

**and I started staring at the passengers who're waving goodbye**

**can you tell me what was ever really special about me all this time?**

Ichigo wandered the streets, not one of those blissfully unaware wanders, no he was quite attuned to what was going on around him, maybe even more so. It felt like every other morning before, sure it was usually his dad waking him via kick to the face, not falling out of bed because of a dream, and maybe having a shinigami taicho standing in your window is a bit off, but otherwise normal events for Kurosaki Ichigo. Though...he didn't expect this... Ichigo paused on the street watched, everything seemed to go in slow motion, the people, the cars, and they didn't pay any attention to the solemn orange haired boy, no _man_, standing there. He saw the passengers waving goodbye to pedestrians walking the street and suddenly Ichigo felt his heart tearing, ripping, shredding within his chest. He broke down there in the street, the end of the world at his back and in his soul, and in his mind he was crying out. 'WHY ME! WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT ME! IT'S ALL MY FAULT! MY FRIENDS "You mean Inoue..." ARE ALL IN DANGER BECAUSE OF ME!' He continued home trying to get farther from Inoue's apartment where... his thoughts far from his shinigami friends who had returned to Soul Society, away from his friends here in Karakura, but solely on one person. 'Inoue...can you tell me what was ever really special about me all this time...?'

**but I believe the world is burning to the ground**

**oh well I guess we're gonna find out**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an end**

**oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

His world was burning to the ground, he watched it fall and crumble at his feet, and yet he felt nothing. Ichigo thought back on everything that had happened to them, how far they came, there was so much, so much, near deaths, new powers, new friends, new lives, new loves, but mostly, 'So much fighting...and she...she didn't deserve to be subjected to that...she was pure and innocent, she wasn't a fighter...' He looked up and saw he was back at the river bank, this place that cause him intense pain, for once relaxed him. He laid there on the bank, and closed his eyes, he knew it all was coming to an end, but for a moment, he pretended that it wasn't, that _she_ wasn't... "How far _have_ we come?"

**think it turned ten o'clock but I don't really know**

**then I can't remember caring for an hour or so**

**started crying and I couldn't stop myself**

**I started running but there's no where to run to**

**I sat down on the street and took a look at myself**

**said where you going man you know the world is headed for hell**

**say your goodbyes if you've got someone you can say goodbye to**

Orihime looked up at the window of her pure white prison, the bleak black sky and the glowing pale moon, really this place was a world of black and white... "I think it turned ten o'clock but..." she stopped and sighed as she sank down into the white couch, "I don't really know..." She couldn't remember ever caring for what time it was, but now, now it seemed like time was so precious. She hadn't ever realized how important time was, and how little time she had left...Her eyes begin to sting, and the tears began to flow and she couldn't stop herself, the memory, burned her heart and left it scarred and hurt. Orihime had been running down the streets through Karakura, she had so little time, so little time...but she stopped. She looked down at the puddle below her and looked long and hard at herself. 'Where are you going Orihime...?' she thought to herself sadly. She knew she could have told someone, and someone would have taken care of her and protected her, but now, there was nowhere to run to... She was tired of being taken care of, she wanted to help. 'Even if...' this was all she could do, sacrifice herself, for everyone else, for...for... "Kurosaki-kun...did you know the world is headed for hell?" Orihime was suddenly back in her room in Hueco Mundo as she said those words. She sighed and remembered one final piece of that night, her words... "Goodbye halcyon days" and...and...her silent goodbye to...to... "Say your goodbyes if you've got someone you can to say goodbye to...Kurosaki-kun...did I really ever have you to say goodbye to?"

**I believe the world is burning to the ground**

**oh well I guess we're gonna find out**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an end**

**oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

Her world was burning to the ground, she watched it fall and crumble at her feet, and yet she felt nothing. Orihime thought back on everything that had happened to them, how far they came, there was so much, so much, near deaths, new powers, new friends, new lifes, new loves, but mostly, 'So much fighting...' She looked up and gazed at the sky again, it caused her intense pain, a reminder that she wasn't home...that she might never be home. She laid there on the couch, and closed her eyes, she knew it all was coming to an end, but for a moment, she pretended that it wasn't... "How far _have_ we come?"

**its gone gone baby its all gone**

**there is no one on the corner and there's no one at home**

**it was cool cool, it was just all cool**

**now it's over for me and it's over for you**

**well its gone gone baby its all gone**

**there is no one on the corner and there's no one at home**

**well it was cool cool, it was just all cool**

**now it's over for me and it's over for you**

'Kurosaki-kun...'

'Inoue...'

They stand there a moment, basking in the single moment where it's just a man and a woman, an angel of the highest choir and a fallen one, Ichigo and Orihime. He thinks his wings are broken from his fall, he'll never be able to fly, he'll never be pure, he'll never be good enough for her. She frets that he's hurt, and although she fears his unknown nature, this darker half, she still will wait for his safe return and welcome him with open arms.

"Ku-kuro..." she tries, tries to tell him she's not afraid.

"Are...you...hurt at all?...Inoue..." he asks, hating himself for making her afraid, for hurting her.

'I'm so glad...' she thinks, that he will still come, even if he doesn't love her. 'Kurosaki-kun...' he never really changes, beneath this shell that he shows everyone lies the same man. 'Has returned to his usual self...' his heart still beats the same beat, the same beat for someone special. "...No...thank you..." she won't say all the things that are written on her soul just yet.

He gets tackled by Nell, and he shares his annoyance(but mostly happiness) with her. Orihime thinks he'll be a good dad, Ichigo feels the same way about Orihime, well, that she'll make a good mom anyway. "I'm also happy Inoue isn't hurt either," a small thing, to protect this angel of purity, but he failed so many times. He ignores her babbling about health and the like and reaches for her lithe waist. He hoists her onto his shoulder, like a prize won(but she really isn't a prize, she far too great to be considered as such).

"Wai...wait, Kurosaki-kun!? What are you..." Orihime asks unsure Ichigo's sudden advance.

"What do you mean? I'm taking you down. Instead of searching through all this debris for some kind of path leading down, the quickest way is to just take you, right?" he answers as if it were completely obvious. In his mind it was anyway, she was his to protect, to take care of, and her safety was his concern.

"B...but..." she wants to say that she can take care of herself, that he shouldn't strain himself anymore for her sake.

"What? Is something wrong?" he worries that she hates this closeness, that she hates...him.

"I'm...heavy..."

"Ah...don't worry. You're not as heavy as I thought you'd be..." he never really thought her to be heavy at all, she was perfect. Nell reminds him, his comment is less than polite(with a punch to the "family jewels") and he gets them safely to the bottom. Once he finds Chad and Rukia...he'll get everyone out of here...

"Are you gonna leave uth here?" Nell asks in her childish lisped voice.

"Of course not...come on. It'd be more dangerous if you stayed here..." Ichigo isn't about to lose her again, his angel, that visited him on her last night on Earth, who left him without a proper goodbye. He wants that kiss, his dream only proved to further that desire, he wants her. His tainted body, he knows he's no good, for her, this precious angel. Yet that is the constant desire of a fallen angel...to have purity.

He knew there would be no end to the fighting, but he wished that he didn't have to show her, this side of him that was blood thirsty and powerful. She knew there would be no end to the fighting, but she wished that she could tell him that she wasn't afraid anymore. They stand there a moment, basking in the single moment where it's just a man and a woman, an angel of the highest choir and a fallen one, Ichigo and Orihime. Though they don't know it, Noitora is coming for a fight, and more are sure to follow, they remain there, time standing still just for them. 'I believe it's all coming to an end...Oh well, I guess we're gonna pretend...'

**but I believe the world is burning to the ground**

**oh well I guess we're gonna find out**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an end**

**oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come**

**let's see how far we've come **

'It was a dream...' Ichigo thought as he walked the sands of Hueco Mundo. 'But she really did come to my room that night...I'm sure of that...' He stops and looks across the miles still left to travel, and he looks at his comrades all risking their lives for her. He smiles, 'She was so sweet...' He can almost smell her... 'She was so soft...' he can feel velvet lips press lightly against his own... 'And for a moment...' he opens his eyes, the fantasy blowing away in the breeze, 'She was mine...' His hands trembled as he clenched them into fists.

'When I find the bastard that is responsible for this...' Ichigo pledged in his silent vow. 'I'll make sure...to kill him...'

"Ichigo...are you ok? You look...intense..." Rukia asked as she caught up to his long strides.

"Yeah carrot top! What's up?" Renji asked as well, making sure to catch up to the dark haired petite woman that he watched over(without her consent of course).

"Nothing, just thinking about..."

"Orihime?" Chad supplied as he joined Ichigo's other side. "We know you're very worried about her...we are too...that's why we came to help..."

"You didn't think you could do it on your own, did you Kurosaki?" Uryu asked as he adjusted his glasses.

Ichigo is sure that he could...his hollow agrees. "Unlimited potential" that's what someone in Soul Society had remarked about him. He didn't care, potential didn't protect Orihime, wouldn't take care of her the way she deserved. He felt his world crumbling down, his inner world a flood of water because of...he knew it all was coming to an end, but for a moment, he pretended that it wasn't, that _she_ wasn't gone from his side... "How far _have_ we come?"

**_The song is btw the way Matchbox 20 "How Far We've Come" here's a link to a youtube video, so you can listen to the song as you read... _** and if that doesn't work...just go to youtube and search for the song kay? I love Matchbox 20's music video of this song...it's sooooo coolio! Anyway, Peace out! R&R! Lata!


End file.
